Tag Archives: St. Jacinta

In the words of her sister, “Violeta has cancer in her blood”. Only six years old and a beautiful little girl, these events remind me again that He is God and I am not, as it doesn’t make sense to me. Still we trust in the Lord and do all we can to help. (See the Litany of Trust from two weeks ago if you need help there.)

We are praying for Violeta. Several things have converged together as we learned of Violeta’s illness:

Cece, who assists in our school, suggested we pray to St. Jacinta. (Cece’s suggestion reminds me of the young girl in the story of Naaman the leper who suggests the army general go to the prophet in Samaria to be healed. (2 Kings 5: 1-13) I love it when the little among us have great ideas on which we take action.)

Jacinta is one of the three children of Fatima. She along with her brother Francisco will be canonized in a few weeks on May 13, the 100th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance in Fatima.

Jacinta was a six year old girl who was ill, much like Violeta.

Jacinta was Portuguese, Violeta is Hispanic; they even look a bit alike!

And the clincher for me, which came after the other realizations……Violeta’s last name is Jacinto!

And so we pray often. Each day at the closing announcements we pray, “For Violeta, St. Jacinta, Intercede for her,” three times. The children are also praying in their families and classrooms, as are the faculty and many adults.

Helping is taking the form of prayer and action. The Student Council members are getting white bracelets with orange lettering, the colors of Leukemia Awareness. They will say, “Team Violeta” on one side and “St. Jacinta, Intercede for her!” on the other. They are teaming up with the Rosary Makers for a package deal, or will also offer an ala carte option, I would imagine.

The Rosary Makers have gone mad; mad as in making rosaries like crazy and marketing them for the cause, even faster than they can make them. Taking orders for specific colors has allowed them to manage the flow. The girls who channeled the rosary-making efforts in the sixth grade toward helping Violeta are clearly evidencing the feminine genius in their desire to help, as well as organizing the project and carrying it through. Sister Mary Guadalupe hardly knew what she was starting when a few months ago she offered to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to tie the knots.

After the children launched the rosary-making for Violeta, and Sister was placing yet another order for rosary rope, we wondered if the twine makers might be willing to join in the work of charity. Sister sent the following email:

Praised be Christ our King! What high quality twine and beautiful colors you provide for our rosary making! A few of us, Sisters, have been making rosaries for several years, and your company has become the “go to” place for the best materials. This year I taught my 6th grade students to make the knotted rope rosaries and many (about 40 out of 61) have become rather proficient making them. Since January, I have placed 2 orders for 10 spools of twine and many of my students have ordered on their own as well. We run out quickly each time. This morning two of my students had an inspiration that they would like to help one of our kindergartners (who was diagnosed with leukemia last week) and her family by selling some of the rosaries that they have made (and will make) as a fundraiser. They also want to make rosaries for children in the missions through the Holy Father’s Missionary Childhood Association. Would you consider assisting with this project by donating some twine or giving us a discounted price, or maybe even free shipping? We would be grateful for any assistance that you would be able to give and are grateful for the resources you provide to spread the kingdom of God through the rosary. Recently I had to limit the children to taking only one rope to tie at a time, as they have become rosary-making maniacs. The troubles we have some days are not what one might think! Thank you and God bless you!

In His Love,

Sister Mary Guadalupe

The response of Twine By Design:

Good Afternoon Sister Mary. After explaining your needs to our President of Twine By Design, he would like to make a donation of the twine. Please email us your order instead of going through the website. It is so wonderful that your students are interested in doing this as a fund raiser to help the other student and their family. I am so sorry the youngster is ill. I could not imagine having to go through that at all.

Thank you and God Bless,

Twine By Design Customer Service

Then a little later they added:

Hi Sister Mary, I wanted to also maybe make a suggestion, I don’t know which colors you were interested in, but we do have the option of making some or all of them the Leukemia Awareness colors (orange and white). We were not sure how much you were looking at having donated, but we can mix and match if you want certain colors that are on our website and if you wanted the Leukemia Awareness colors we would be willing to make you some of that as well. Please let us know exactly what you would like and we will get it together for you.

Thank you again,

Twine By Design Customer Service

What a beautiful response from the company! That’s http://twinebydesign.blogspot.com/ if you want to support them, a good number of our kids are launching off on making their own rosaries.

Thank you for your prayers for Violeta. She is doing considerably better and is in the midst of a four-week round of chemotherapy in Omaha at Children’s Hospital. If you’d like a rosary or to contribute to a fund for Violeta email to office@stpeterslincoln.com. or send a note to school.